DPSY 691 - Trauma: Integrative Approach Systems, Psychoanalysis and Attachment Theory

3 Credit(s)

Psychologists recognize the ubiquity of developmental and acute trauma in the lives of their clients. This course attempts to integrate the state-of-the-art knowledge and practice in the field of psychology relevant to understanding and treating trauma in both children and adults. The following will be covered: the neuropsychological perspective on trauma; the psychodynamic conceptualization of
trauma and its treatment; assessment of trauma, the role of substance abuse, and focus on alternative treatments such as EMDR, Hypnosis, and DBT; treating trauma in children and working with parents in addition to the inter-generational transmission of trauma; the role of somatic representation in working with trauma, as well as the clinician’s important therapeutic role of ” bearing witness” and the consequential countertransference pitfalls for the therapist of listening to trauma; cognitive-behavioral conceptualization of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Prolonged Exposure, Cognitive Processing Therapy, and Stress Inoculation Therapy. This multiple instructor course will be coordinated and overseen by a faculty member in the Psychoanalytic Interest Group.